


Anything But This

by VolsungartheMighty



Series: Anything But This [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: A lot - Freeform, Angst, Dark Lord Theo, God Liam, God Theo, Liam Dies, Lots of Angst, M/M, Theos POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 00:56:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15108395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolsungartheMighty/pseuds/VolsungartheMighty
Summary: Theo is furious, not at the boy cradled in his arms, bleeding out and dying, but at the gods, who sent a boy to fight their battles.





	Anything But This

**Author's Note:**

> So this is... angstier than i usually write, so i hope you like it. Especially all of you on the discord, since you all like angst at the moment.

“I don’t want to die.”

Those five words cut through Theo like a knife to the heart. It wasn’t the first time he had heard those words, but no matter how many times he heard them, uttered from those very same lips… he got furious.

But never at the boy who had uttered them.

“There, there, little one” Theo whispered, one hand cradling the back of the boy’s head, the other held over the deep wound in the boy’s side.

The wound Theo himself had inflicted.

The boy, golden brown hair stained crimson with the blood from Theo’s hands, stared into Theo’s green eyes with his own sky-blue ones. “They… they said I could do it… they said I would be able to kill you” he coughed, blood pooling from the corners of his mouth. “They said I was the champion of the… of the gods…”

Theo shook his head, his face calm as he pulled the pain from the boy’s body, thick black lines running up his arms, climbing up his heck and throat, thick vines circling his face. It was the only thing he would let himself feel, the pain he was pulling from the dying boy. But it would never be enough. He knew that, had countless centuries of experience with that, but he always did this. Always tried to make the boy’s last moments as painless as he possibly could.

“Don’t… don’t speak of them now, little one” Theo muttered, gritting his teeth through the pain. “What is your name? Who shall I return your body to?”

The boy gripped Theo’s wrist where his hand was held to his side in an ever weakening grip. “L-Liam” the boy gasped out, and Theo’s head dropped at the answer. It was always the same. “My name is Liam. Please, my parents. Return me to my parents, in New York. Stephen and Lisa… Brown.”

“It’s okay Liam” Theo whispered as the boys life slowly faded from his eyes. “Your name shall be honoured for all time.” He leant down and placed a soft kiss to the boys forehead, and as he pulled back, he found the boys eyes dull and lifeless. He removed his hand from the still leaking wound, wiping his hand free of as much blood as possible before closing the boy’s eyes one last time.

But as he stood and called for a servant, he let the anger and the guilt flood him. He hated this, hated how he was always killing children. He hated how the gods justified sending children to kill him when even they could not stand against him.

But he knew, as the past millennia had told him, that he would only see Liam again in twenty years time.

As he had every twenty years.

***

It hadn’t always been like this of course.

Theo and Liam had been happy together once, long ago. Though they had been born mortal, they had both ascended to god hood not long after their twentieth year.

And it was a joyous occasion when they ascended, being welcomed into the pantheon like heroes, receiving gifts and wine like there was nothing wrong with the world.

But, everything had been wrong with the world. Mortals were being ravaged by disease, while mother nature sent all manner of natural disasters to kill what was left. Liam had been heart broken, wanting to use his new found powers to help the mortals.

But the other gods had not allowed it and had instead lazed around drinking wine and eating grapes, making bets on how many mortals would die in the next disaster.

And so, with Liam’s urging, Theo and Liam had left the pantheon to help the mortals.

It had been a difficult task, of course. The very forces of nature were fighting against them, and soon after, the other gods too, who deemed their interference as an act of betrayal.

And so, amidst the aid they gave to mortals, a war broke out between the couple and the pantheon they had betrayed.

It was disastrous for all involved, all except Theo and Liam. If anything, the bond they shared simply grew stronger, as did their powers. With every battle, every victory and defeat, they quickly grew too powerful for the other gods to defeat them.

And the war was won with their victory, and a golden age dawned on humanity

Humanity flourished, spreading across the globe as the two gods shared their powers with the world. Hunger and disease were eradicated, no one going hungry, no one dying before their time.

And they all praised the two gods that had saved them from damnation, while the other gods sat upon their thrones, spitting in fury and looking for vengeance.

And they soon found it.

Three centuries after the war that ended in Theo and Liam’s victory, three centuries after the pantheon was disgraced, their plan was enacted.

One of them snuck into their palace during the dead of night, a weapon of unholy power clutched in her hand. It had been forged in secret, and it had one goal, to kill a god. But it had enacted a terrible price upon those who had forged it, sapping them of their remaining strength and weakening them.

For the power required to kill a god was immense and unstable.

It would, unfortunately, only be able to kill one god, before it lost it’s power.

But no matter how many times he tried, Theo could never get the image of that night out of his head,that first night he lost Liam.

***

His eyes flew open as the sound of footsteps echoed through the room.

Theo sat up, the rain lashing the windows as a flash of lightning lit up the room, a clap of thunder following moments later. The palace was… eerily silent. It always was, in the middle of the night. But this was the silence that settled over you like a shroud, obscuring your senses and muddling your thoughts. It was the kind of silence that held the secrets of the universe, and the cause of ones death.

Theo stood from the bed, turning as the sheets rustled, and he smiled down at Liam, his face soft in sleep, the same caring boy he had fallen in love with all those centuries ago. He leaned down and ran his fingers through Liams soft hair as lightly as he could, not wishing to disrupt the other mans sleep.

The creaking of floorboards echoed through the room, before it was drowned out by a clap of thunder.

Theo spun around, his eyes scanning the room, sweeping over the dark furniture, as another flash of lightning lit up the room, quickly followed by a clap of thunder that rattled the frames on the walls and made the windows shake in their frames. But he spotted the woman, standing on the other side of the room, standing in a corner completely shrouded in shadows, before the light disappeared, covering the room in darkness again.

Rapid footsteps approached him, and he raised a hand, lightning crackling at his finger tips as a bolt of lightning flew from his palm, lighting up the room. The woman dodged the blast, the bolt blowing a hole through the wall behind her with an ear-splitting _bang_.

The sheets behind Theo rustled and Liam was sitting up, suddenly alert, flames dancing along his arms. Rain was pouring into the room through a hole in the roof, and Theo sent another bolt of lightning after the woman. She dodged this one too but was hit in the leg by a pillar of flame sent her way by Liam. She fell to the ground screaming, her red hair spilling from the hood she was wearing.

“Stay there” Theo said firmly, sending a look Liam’s way as he tried to leave the bed.

He walked across the room, holding his hand over his mouth and nose, gagging at the smell of burnt flesh. The woman laid there, pained noises falling from her lips as she nursed the burnt flesh, a light glow filling her palm as she ran her hands over her leg. But it was no use. She would be dead soon.

Theo used his bare foot to roll her over onto her back, and gasped as he looked into the eyes of a familiar face.

“Lydia?” Theo asked with a gasp, taking a step back.

“Hello, Theo” she spat out, edging away from Theo, a hand darting into the folds of her cloak. “How are you doing, traitor?”

Theo growled in annoyance, taking a step forward. Nothing was adding up. “You were banished, Lydia” Theo growled out, teeth clenched, his hands balled tightly into fists, sparks of lightning flickering from them. “You are not meant to be here.”

Lydia only laughed, a high pitched cackle that grated on Theo’s ears. “You and your whore were never meant to be gods” she growled out, standing shakily on her burnt leg. “You betrayed us, and for that you must die.”

She threw back her cloak, her hand leaving the folds of fabric wrapped tightly around the pommel of a wicked, curved dagger. The blade was black, darker than black, so black it seemed to almost… otherworldly, not of this world. She charged forward suddenly, dagger held in front of her, aimed for Theo’s chest.

Theo, too shocked by her sudden movement to move, just stood there, knowing full well what was about to happen. But a heavy force hit him in the side, throwing him out of the path of the dagger.

A scream of pain rent the air, a strong blast of wind billowing from where Theo had just been standing, shattering the windows and sending the shards flying.

When Theo looked up, it was to find Liam standing in his placed, dagger buried in his chest, blood trickling from his mouth, a wicked grin on Lydia’s face.

Theo surged forward, tackling Lydia to the ground, straddling her waist as he punched her, and kept on punching her, while she laughed. She continued to laugh through the punches, each one making it harder and harder for her to do so, until blood pooled in her mouth. But it wasn’t enough. With one last punch, Theo reached down and wrapped both hands around Lydia’s throat, squeezing and pressing down against her wind pipe.

The laughter quickly turned into coughs and gasps as Lydia tried desperately to drag air into her lungs. She tried her best to get Theo off of her, kicking and punching and scratching, but it was no use. He was numb to the pain, numb to everything she could deal out to him, and he kept squeezing, kept pushing, the rage and hate and loss building and waring inside him, each one fighting for control.

Hate won over, flames flaring to life along his arms, red and orange at the elbow, blue along his forearms, white hot at his hands. Lydia squirmed and thrashed even more as the heat pooling in his hands melted her wind pipe shut, before moments later the thrashing had stopped and she had lost consciousness. He gave her neck a sharp twist, smirking as a satisfying _crack_ rent the air, before the flames on his arms died in an instant and he stood from Lydia’s now lifeless corpse.

A groan caught his attention and he turned, finding Liam on his knees, blood pooling down his bare chest from the wound, dagger still buried deeply in his chest. Theo took two quick strides, kneeling down in front of Liam, one hand on his shoulder, the other cupping his neck lovingly.

“Baby, baby please, look at me” Theo said softly, smiling as Liam’s eyes fluttered open. But he frowned, noticing something was wrong. The sclera of his eyes, usually the bright gold that announced one as a god, were now white.

Liam was mortal again.

He must have said it out loud, as Liam was nodding slightly. “Yeah, I’m mortal” Liam said softly, voice weak. He reached a hand up, his fingers wrapping around the hilt of the blade, before he pulled it out with a wet _squelch_. He groaned in pain at the movement, before raising the dagger up to look at it. The blade was now ordinary steel. “They must have created a god killer. I’m… I don’t think I’ll make it this time.”

“You don’t know that” Theo said softly, wrapping his arms around Liam, not caring for the blood that now caked his torso. “I could still save you.”

“No, don’t” Liam said sharply, pulling back. He was weaker and need more and more of Theo’s support as the second dragged on. “We have contingencies in place, in case exactly this happened. If you save me now, you’ll only be making me mortal. If I die now, I’ll come back, stronger than I am now.”

“You’re right” Theo sighed, pulling Liam in close, letting him rest against Theo as he bled out. “I love you Liam.”

“I love you too, Theo” Liam whispered, voice weak, as he pressed a soft kiss against Theo’s shoulder. “I’ll see you soon.”

Moments later, Liam stopped breathing, and that was when Theo let himself cry.

***

Nothing went to plan, because why would it?

Theo didn’t see Liam for another century. But that was the plan. The soul, even the soul of a god, needed time to heal and recuperate before being reborn. And the way he died meant he would take longer than usual to heal, so Theo had been expecting to wait.

The world… withered with Liam gone. Theo didn’t put in as much effort as he used to, not because he couldn’t be bothered, but because he missed Liam. Crops started to fail, natural disasters started happening more frequently. People started to lose faith in Theo.

And then, a century to the day that Liam died, he returned.

But it wasn’t with love in his eyes and apologies on his lips, it was hate and vitriol.

The same vitriol of that the banished gods spat when he visited them in their prisons.

That first time Theo killed Liam, it had been an accident. He had tried to fend the man off first, wishing to anyone who would listen to snap Liam out of it. When nothing happened, Theo went on the offensive, and kicked Liam into a bookcase.

The bookcase the fell and crushed Liam.

The first… Theo had lost count, hundred times? Had all been accidents. Liam walked into his chamber, spitting hate and venom, and Theo tried to fend him off. And each time, Liam died before Theo could snap him out of whatever was controlling him.

***

The cave was dark, the walls slick with water, the ball of flames dancing over Theo’s opened palm the only source of light in the stone tunnel. His footsteps echoed heavily as he made his way to the prisoner that sat at the other end of the tunnel.

“Well, well, well, what have we here” a voice echoed down the cave to Theo. “I have a visitor, do I?”

Theo walked into a natural chamber, the light of the flame illuminating a wide circle around him. Beyond the circle of light, all was darkness, except for a pair of dull, golden eyes.

“That you do, Stiles” Theo let out with gritted teeth. “I need answers.”

A chuckle echoed through the cavern, as a man stepped forward, hair long and grey, the irises of his eyes a light brown, almost whiskey coloured. He leaned against the stone bars of his cage, a smirk on his lips. “Of course, you want answers. How can I be of service? You know I cannot lie. You made it impossible for me and my brethren to lie, after all. So what can I help you with, traitor?”

“How do I stop it?” Theo bit out, his fingers clenching, the flame glowing a bright white, before returning to it’s usual orange and red. “How do I stop him from trying to kill me?”

“Hehehe, you want to know about that, do you?” Stiles asked, picking at his nails, almost bored. “It’s simple really.” He leaned forward, a wicked grin on his face. “You can’t.”

Stiles started laughing while Theo growled, his free hand darting out and gripping Stiles’ throat, the laughter halting with a squeak.

“What do you mean, I can’t stop it?” Theo gritted out through clenched teeth.

“The curse… was Lydia’s doing” Stiles got out, the smile never leaving his face, even as Theo started to grip his throat tighter and tighter. “And it’s impossible to remove a dead gods curse.”

Stiles fell to the ground as Theo let out a shocked _“no”_ , as Stiles started laughing again, the laughter echoing through the cavern, bouncing around them, the sound becoming distorted and sharp.

“No!” Theo shouted out, louder this time, voice cutting through the laughter.

“Yes” Stiles shouted back, chuckled still escaping his lips, his hands clasped around his stomach. “Lydia knew that you would kill her once she killed Liam, so that’s why she volunteered to do the deed. She knew she was going to die, and she knew her curse would never be lifted once she was dead. Consider it your punishment for defying us, asshole. To kill the one person you loved in this world more than anything, for the rest of eternity.”

“No” Theo breathed out, as he fell to his knees. “No.”

_“No.”_


End file.
